Drama therapy (Jennings, Landy, Emunah)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Renée Emunah's Integrative Five Phase Model as summarised by Sally Bailey, RDT (Drama Therapy Central), citing Emunah's Acting for Real (1994; 2nd edition 2020); Sue Jennings's Embodiment–Projection–Role (EPR) as set out in her own 2010 overview; Robert Landy's role theory (role, counter-role, guide) as summarised in Berger (2017), and his eight-step role method and Role Profiles card sort as described in two Lesley University theses that cite Landy (Kidders-Montoya 2018; Kanter 2023). The names and order of Landy's eight role-method steps and the published form and sorting categories of Role Profiles come from those theses. Landy's own books and chapters (Persona and Performance, 1993; Landy 2009; Landy & Butler 2012), the Role Profiles card set and scoring, the Tell-A-Story procedure and Emunah's book are cited only through secondary sources; no published step-by-step text by Landy for each role-method step was found, so the how-to inside each step is the writer's synthesis, and anything that depends on the full text of these books is marked [uncertain]. Professional requirements follow the NADTA and BADth pages.

What it is. Drama therapy (UK: dramatherapy) is a profession and a family of methods, not a single manualised therapy. NADTA defines it as the intentional use of drama and theatre processes (improvisation, theatre games, storytelling, enactment, projective play, purposeful performance, sometimes text and ritual) to reach therapeutic goals within a psychotherapeutic relationship [source: NADTA Scope of Practice]. BADth describes it as a form of psychotherapy whose work is often indirect, verbal or non-verbal, with embodiment and movement treated as vital [source: BADth, What is Dramatherapy]. This guide combines three published models that are widely taught together:

Jennings's EPR: a developmental map of dramatic play from birth to about age 7 (Embodiment, then Projection, then Role), used both to assess where a client's dramatic development is and to choose the next intervention. Jennings describes it as value-free, so it can sit alongside any psychological theory [source: Jennings 2010].
Landy's role theory: people are role-players; the self is a system of roles that interact inside the person and with others. Each role has a counter-role (a shadow, an underdeveloped side or a corresponding role, such as child to mother), and a guide figure bridges and balances role and counter-role, helping the person integrate [source: Berger 2017, summarising Landy].
Emunah's Integrative Five Phase Model: a sequence for a group (or individual) series that moves from play, through scenework and fictional role play, to direct enactment of personal material, and ends in ritual closure [source: Bailey, Drama Therapy Central].

How change happens. Clients step into a dramatic reality that is separate from everyday reality. Inside it they can rehearse wanted behaviour, practise relating, and widen their repertoire of roles [source: NADTA]. The therapist regulates distance: fiction, metaphor, puppets and stories let clients approach painful material without being overwhelmed, and Jennings notes the paradox that clients often come closer to their own experience through distance than through direct re-enactment [source: Jennings 2010; Bailey]. Landy's version: change comes from discovering a counter-role and finding a guide that can hold both in balance [source: Berger 2017]. Each piece of role work ends with de-roling, so that what was played stays in dramatic reality [source: Jennings 2010; Bailey].

Professional frame.

UK: "Dramatherapist" is a protected title. Practice requires an HCPC-approved Level 7 (master's) dramatherapy qualification and current HCPC registration, renewed every two years. BADth states that a person who is not HCPC-registered may not practise dramatherapy or use the title [source: BADth, HCPC registered]. BADth is the professional association.
North America: NADTA states that only a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) should practise. Routes: a master's or doctorate from an NADTA-accredited programme, or a related master's plus NADTA Alternative Training supervised by an RDT/BCT (Board Certified Trainer). Requirements include 800 internship hours (at least 300 direct, at least 150 of them in groups, two populations), 1 supervision hour per 10 direct hours, 1,000–1,500 post-master's professional hours, 500 hours of drama or theatre experience, NADTA membership, the NADTA ethics code, and continuing education [source: NADTA RDT page; NADTA Scope of Practice].
For other psychotherapists: do not run personal enactment (Phase 4 work, trauma re-enactment, full role-method work) or describe your work as drama therapy without this training. You can refer to an RDT or HCPC dramatherapist, co-facilitate with one, or use low-intensity games and stories within your own modality and competence while staying at high distance [synthesis].
Physical safety: warm the body up before active work so no one gets hurt [source: Bailey]. Clear the space of obstacles, agree on a stop word and a no-contact option, avoid lifts and falls, and check props (no sharp swords or real weapons; soft foam or scarves instead) [synthesis].

2. Framework

2.1 Session arc (every session)

Warm-up: games and movement that prepare the body and build trust [source: Bailey].
Main action: play, scenework, role play or enactment, depending on the phase.
De-roling: step every client out of every role before discussion ends [source: Bailey; Jennings 2010].
Closure: a game, ritual, review or song ends each session [source: Bailey].
Session length and frequency are not given in the sources used [uncertain]. A common format is 60–90 minutes weekly for groups and 50–60 minutes for individuals [synthesis].

2.2 Emunah's five phases (series arc)

All phase names, goals and techniques below come from Bailey's summary of Emunah [source: Bailey]. Transition criteria are [synthesis] unless marked.

Dramatic play. Goal: the group gets to know each other and the therapist through play; trust, cohesion and basic relationship skills. Techniques: drama games and improvisation. Move on when: members join games without coaxing, laughter and spontaneity appear, and no one is persistently isolated or scapegoated [synthesis].
Scenework. Goal: build the dramatic skills needed later (Bailey links these to abilities usually developed around ages 3–5). Techniques: improvisation and role play. Move on when: members can sustain an improvised scene, stay in role, and step out of it cleanly on cue [synthesis].
Role play. Goal: explore issues through fictional material that mirrors members' difficulties (for example a generic family conflict or a fairy-tale crisis). Techniques: structured role play, Landy's role method, sociodrama. Move on when: members spontaneously link the fiction to their own lives, can tolerate the feelings this raises, de-role reliably, and say they want to work with personal material [synthesis].
Culminating enactments. Goal: personal issues are acted out directly. Techniques: performance, psychodrama, Theatre of the Oppressed forums, deeper role-method work, Developmental Transformations. Each of these has its own training (see the separate guides on psychodrama, Theatre of the Oppressed and Developmental Transformations). Move on when: the planned ending approaches; never open new personal material in the last one or two sessions [synthesis].
Dramatic ritual. Goal: close the series. Options: a shared public performance, a private group ritual, or an evaluation session in which members review change and say goodbye [source: Bailey].

Duration. Not every group reaches all five phases. Time limits (Bailey cites insurance caps of 6–8 sessions) and developmental level affect how far a group goes, and children often heal through play and fiction alone [source: Bailey]. With 6–8 sessions, plan Phases 1–3 and 5 and treat Phase 4 as optional [synthesis]. Phases overlap and groups can move back a phase when cohesion or safety drops [synthesis].

2.3 Jennings's EPR (developmental assessment and planning)

[source: Jennings 2010 throughout]

Embodiment (from birth): sensory, physical experience; building a "body-self" before body image, through close contact, rocking, singing and copying with a carer.
Transition one (around 12–14 months): from body to object; the transitional object as first symbol.
Projection: play moves into objects and materials: sensory mess, then patterned play (building, drawing, collage), then story play with dolls' houses and puppets.
Transition two: play becomes dramatised, with beginning-middle-end stories, improvisation, directing others, and symbols of authority (stick, baton, costume).
Role (by about age 7): taking several roles in a scene, directing scenes, judging what is right for a role.
Stages are revisited throughout life, and adults favour the stage they are most at home in.
Planning use: assess which stage the client can play in. Start there, and move towards the next stage only when the client plays freely at the current one [source: Jennings 2010 for assessment use; sequencing rule is synthesis]. Jennings notes that clients with body trauma may need extended physical play to rebuild a confident body.

2.4 Landy's role framework (content of role work)

Identify the role the client presents or is stuck in, its counter-role, and a guide figure that can hold both [source: Berger 2017].
Landy's book has a chapter titled "The Drama Therapy Role Method" and a Taxonomy of Roles across cognitive, affective, social, spiritual and aesthetic domains [source: Guilford contents page]. The role method has eight steps: invoking the role; naming it; playing it out or working it through; exploring alternative qualities in subroles; reflecting on the role play (qualities, functions, styles); relating the fictional role to everyday life; integrating roles into a functional role system; and social modelling (how the client's behaviour in role affects others) [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018, pp. 22–23, citing Landy 1993, 2008, 2009]. The how-to inside each step in Section 4 (D1) is [synthesis]; Landy's own per-step instructions are not available in the sources used [uncertain].
Assessment: Landy's Role Profiles is a card sort of roles from the taxonomy into categories (earlier: who I am / am not / not sure / want to be; later: who I am / want to be / who stands in my way / who can help me), published in 2003 and used, for example, to organise a six-session survivor group [source: Kanter 2023; Kidders-Montoya 2018]. Its full card set and scoring, and the Tell-A-Story procedure, are not described in the available sources [uncertain]. See D2.

2.5 How the three fit together [synthesis]

Use EPR to judge the client's dramatic developmental level and the right medium. Use Emunah's phases for the series arc and pacing. Use Landy's role, counter-role and guide for the content of Phase 3 and 4 work.

3. Guiding principles

Dramatic reality is separate from everyday reality. Mark entry and exit clearly; behaviour allowed in drama is not allowed outside it [source: Jennings 2010; Bailey].
Regulate distance actively. Too raw: add fiction, metaphor, puppets or objects. Too intellectual: reduce fiction and invite feeling [source: Bailey]. Psychodrama is low-distance; puppets, games and fictional improvisation are high-distance [source: Bailey].
Distance can bring clients closer. Distanced stories often reach personal material more safely than direct re-enactment; with children, default to distance [source: Jennings 2010].
Start at the client's developmental stage. Choose embodiment, projective or role work by what the client can actually play [source: Jennings 2010].
Co-create; do not impose. Play alongside a child so they do not feel watched, but do not direct the content [source: Jennings 2010].
Tolerate not-knowing. Let meaning emerge; avoid early interpretation of play or roles [source: Jennings 2010].
Every role has a counter-role. Do not only strengthen the "good" role; give the shadow or underdeveloped side a voice [source: Berger 2017].
Look for the guide. Change rests on a figure (inner or enacted) that can observe and balance role and counter-role [source: Berger 2017].
Cohesion before depth. Build trust and play skills before personal material [source: Bailey].
Depth is earned, not scheduled. Not every group should reach direct enactment; play and fiction can be enough [source: Bailey].
Always de-role, always close. Every role is de-roled and every session closes with a ritual or review [source: Bailey; Jennings 2010].
Fit to the person. Match activities to functioning level, culture and clinical need [source: NADTA Scope of Practice].
Touch only by consent and contract. Physical contact is an ethics-code area; offer non-touch alternatives (scarves, hoops, string) and explain any touch to clients and carers in advance [source: NADTA Scope of Practice; Jennings 2010].
Work indirectly. Spoken insight is not required for change [source: BADth].

4. Intervention inventory

Order: A. safety and structure (used in every phase), B. Jennings's EPR activities, C. Emunah's phase techniques, D. Landy's role work, E. general drama therapy methods. All example language is illustrative. Section A answers the group-enactment safety questions (screening, pacing, de-roling, closure); handling of overwhelm and retraumatisation is in Section 5.

A1. Screening and contracting for a group with enactment

Purpose: decide who can safely join, at which distance, and agree the rules before anyone plays. NADTA's ethics areas include informed consent, confidentiality and physical contact [source: NADTA Scope of Practice]. The procedure below is [synthesis].
Steps:
1. Hold an individual meeting before the group starts.
2. Ask about: current crisis, suicide or self-harm risk (use your standard risk assessment), trauma history in outline only (not the story), dissociation, psychotic symptoms, substance use, physical limits (balance, pain, pregnancy, mobility), touch preferences and any cultural or religious limits on touch or gender mixing, and current legal proceedings in which the person may give evidence.
3. Note the person's likely EPR level: do they play more freely with the body, with objects, or in role? [source for EPR: Jennings 2010]
4. Explain the series in plain words: it starts with games, moves to fiction, and personal enactment is optional and only by invitation.
5. Agree on: the right to pass at any moment; a stop word or gesture that halts the action; that no one plays another member's real abuser unless trained and consenting, and possibly not at all; a touch policy (ask first, non-touch alternatives always available); confidentiality of other members' stories; what happens if someone leaves the room.
6. Get written consent. With minors, get parental or carer consent plus the child's own assent, and explain safeguarding limits to confidentiality.
Relative contraindications to low-distance personal enactment (Phase 4, psychodrama-style re-enactment) [synthesis]: acute psychosis or mania; active suicidal intent; very recent trauma or ongoing abuse; severe dissociation with no grounding skills yet; acute intoxication; a person who will soon give evidence in court (enactment can shape memory and be challenged). These people can usually still join high-distance play and fiction (Phases 1–3), or be seen individually.
Example language (illustrative): "We'll start with games and made-up stories. Nobody will be asked to act out their own life unless they choose to, and you can say 'pass' at any point, including halfway through a scene."
Watch for: people who agree to everything and cannot imagine saying no; that suggests compliance and a need for explicit practice at passing.

A2. Warm-up

Purpose: prepare body and voice so no one is hurt, build trust, and move the group into dramatic reality [source: Bailey].
Steps: (1) Physical loosening, from the extremities inwards. (2) A name or rhythm game. (3) A low-stakes group game that ends in laughter. (4) A bridge exercise that hints at the session's theme [steps are synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Shake out your hands … now your shoulders … now let a sound come out with it."
Watch for: frozen or hypervigilant members; offer a role on the edge, such as timekeeper or sound-maker.

A3. Adjusting distance (the distance dial)

Purpose: keep the client close enough to feel and far enough not to flood [source: Bailey; Jennings 2010].
Steps:
1. Place the work on a ladder, from most to least distanced [ladder order from Bailey; layout is synthesis]: theatre games, then puppets or objects, then fictional improvisation or fairy tale, then a role like the client "symbolically", then a role like the client "actually", then direct personal enactment.
2. Too much distress (shaking, tears that escalate, freezing, losing track of here and now): move one rung up the ladder. Turn the scene into a puppet scene, freeze it, hand it to the audience, or switch to narration.
3. Too intellectual (talking about the role, performing flatly): move one rung down. Ask the character to speak in the first person, add physical action, or slow the moment.
Example language (illustrative): "Let's pause. Would Gretel like the puppet to say this for her, or shall we watch the scene from the outside?" (Bailey's example is a child playing Gretel to explore feeling punished by parents.)
Watch for: the right distance shows as feeling plus continued ability to play and reflect.

A4. Pacing checks [synthesis]

Purpose: make sure depth grows no faster than capacity.
Steps: (1) Start each session with a check-in using a simple 0–10 sense of how much the person can take today. (2) Before any personal scene, ask the protagonist and the group for consent again. (3) Set a time frame for the scene ("five minutes, then we stop and look"). (4) Freeze the action at peaks to check breathing and orientation. (5) Leave at least a third of the session for de-roling, sharing and closure after deep work.
Example language (illustrative): "Freeze. Everyone take a breath. Notice your feet. Shall we go on, change something, or stop here?"
Watch for: pressure from the group to "go deeper"; the protagonist's pace wins.

A5. De-roling

Purpose: return each person from the role to themselves, and the space from scene to room. Jennings stresses that character, scene and space must all be de-roled so that dramatic and everyday reality stay distinct [source: Jennings 2010]. Bailey notes that de-roling is used all the time in drama therapy, where clients are often vulnerable [source: K-State 2014].
Steps:
1. Physical shake-off: shake limbs and body to shake the character off [source: K-State 2014].
2. Return the prop: hand the costume piece or object that marked the role back to the therapist or put it down outside the stage area [source: K-State 2014].
3. Name self: each actor says their own name and one fact about their real life that the character does not share [synthesis].
4. Release role-givers: the protagonist tells each actor they are no longer the role ("you are not my father, you are Sam") [synthesis].
5. De-role the space: move or remove the chairs, cloths or objects that made the set [source: Jennings 2010 for the principle; method is synthesis].
6. Peer support: members check in with each other, especially those who played difficult roles [source: K-State 2014].
Example language (illustrative): "Step out of the circle, give me the hat, shake it off. Tell us your name and something about you that the character could never say."
Watch for: someone still speaking or moving like the character, others still treating an actor as the role, or an actor who played an aggressor looking ashamed. Repeat the steps and invite feedback from the role-giver.

A6. Session closure

Purpose: contain the session and send people out in everyday reality [source: Bailey].
Steps: (1) Share from your own experience, not advice (from role, then as self) [synthesis]. (2) A short closure activity: a game, a ritual, a review or a song [source: Bailey]. (3) A grounding check before leaving, with a plan for anyone still distressed [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "One word for what you're taking with you, and one for what you're leaving here in the room."
Watch for: members who leave quickly or go quiet; follow up within a day if you are concerned [synthesis].

B1. EPR observational assessment

Purpose: find the stage at which the client plays freely, spot "non-players" (Horley's term, cited by Jennings, for children not yet showing complex dramatic play), and plan [source: Jennings 2010]. Jennings refers to assessment methods in her 1998 and 1999 books and to Courtney's developmental checklist; their content is not summarised here [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis based on the stage descriptions]: (1) Offer materials from all three stages: movement space, sensory materials, small figures and puppets, simple costumes. (2) Observe what the client chooses, for how long, and with how much spontaneity. (3) Note embodiment patterns that Jennings describes: over-held (fused, blurred boundaries), under-held (isolated, anxious, confused about body and space), violated (fear, avoidance of contact, rage, or unboundaried touch) [source for patterns: Jennings 2010]. (4) Record the dominant stage and any missing transition.
Example language (illustrative): "There's lots here. Choose anything you like, and I'll play too if you want me to."
Watch for: EPR is a developmental map, not a validated diagnostic instrument. Embodiment patterns that suggest violation are not evidence of abuse. Follow ordinary safeguarding procedures for any disclosure or concern [synthesis].

B2. Embodiment activities

Purpose: build a confident body-self. Use with young children, clients with body trauma, and adults who find objects or roles too exposing [source: Jennings 2010].
Activities named by Jennings: whole-body and fine-motor movement; sensory play with textures, sounds and smells; singing games that name body parts; rhythmic movement and dance; sword play and wrestling; imaginative movement (moving as monsters, aliens, mice); movement stories with sound [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps (movement story) [synthesis]: (1) Tell a short story in which characters move in different ways. (2) Everyone moves the story as you tell it, adding sounds. (3) Vary tempo and size. (4) End in stillness and breath.
Example language (illustrative): "The mice tiptoe … the giant stamps … and now everyone curls up small and still."
Watch for: sword play and wrestling need soft props, clear rules and a stop word; with violated-pattern clients, skip contact play and use non-touch props (B3) [synthesis]. Jennings advises therapists using this work to be comfortable with movement and to have added training in it [source: Jennings 2010].

B3. Non-touch contact with props

Purpose: give connection and boundary experiences without direct touch, for example when touch is unsafe, unwanted or culturally inappropriate [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps: use hoops, string or silk scarves: both hold one end of a scarf and lead or follow; rock a scarf together; make a shared boundary with string [props from Jennings; specific exercises are synthesis]. Jennings finds scarves especially useful with autistic children.
Example language (illustrative): "You hold one end, I'll hold the other. You lead, and I'll follow."
Watch for: clients pulling too hard or letting go suddenly, which may show how they manage closeness. Name what happens playfully rather than interpreting it.

B4. Touch contracting with families

Purpose: make any physical work transparent [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps: explain any planned touch to the child and parents and write it into the contract. Prefer group or paired movement, where the therapist is not the one touching. Consider whole-family workshops [source: Jennings 2010]. Always ask first, offer opt-out each time, and never touch genital or intimate areas [synthesis].

B5. Transitional object work

Purpose: support separation and symbol use at Transition One [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps: let the client name and keep a consistent object (blanket, soft toy) and use it creatively, for example as a mask or hiding place, as Jennings describes [source: Jennings 2010].

B6. Projective activities

Purpose: externalise feelings into materials and objects where they can be seen and changed [source: Jennings 2010].
Activities named by Jennings: sand, water, clay and Plasticine; drawing, painting and collage; bricks, counters and pattern-making; sandtray stories and sculpting; dolls' houses; puppets and puppet-making; natural materials such as pebbles, twigs and leaves [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps (sandtray or object story) [synthesis]: (1) Invite the client to make a world. (2) Ask them to tell the story of the world: who lives there and what happens. (3) Explore within the metaphor ("What does the pebble by the wall need?"). (4) Let the client change the scene if they want. (5) Photograph it if agreed, then dismantle it together (de-roling the space).
Example language (illustrative): "Tell me about this world. Who's this one? What would happen if …?"
Watch for: stay in the metaphor; do not translate figures into family members unless the client does. Clay dust: work with damp clay and wipe surfaces rather than sweeping dry dust [synthesis].

B7. Role activities (early role stage)

Purpose: move from projection into role at a manageable level [source: Jennings 2010].
Activities named by Jennings: simple single-feeling roles (the angry person, the sad person); animal characters that meet; enacting favourite stories; dressing-up box scenes; masks as story starters; writing and enacting a TV script; developing ideas that arose in projective play [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps (single-feeling role) [synthesis]: (1) Choose one feeling. (2) Find its walk, voice and gesture. (3) Meet another single-feeling character. (4) Swap feelings. (5) De-role (A5).
Example language (illustrative): "Show me how Angry walks. What does Angry say when it meets Shy?"
Watch for: a child stuck in one role across sessions; offer its counter-role through a story (see D1).

B8. Co-creating alongside the client

Purpose: reduce the sense of being watched [source: Jennings 2010].
Steps: make your own parallel sand world, drawing or puppet scene beside the child. Follow and mirror; do not impose content or direct [source: Jennings 2010].
Watch for: the child copying you rather than leading; step back and become audience if so [synthesis].

C1. Drama games (Phase 1)

Purpose: trust, cohesion, basic relationship skills, and getting to know the therapist through play [source: Bailey].
Steps [synthesis]: choose cooperative before competitive games; rotate partners; make sure everyone can succeed; end with a group game.
Example language (illustrative): "There's no wrong way to do this. If you get it 'wrong', we all clap."
Watch for: scapegoating or isolation; change the game structure rather than singling anyone out.

C2. Improvisation and scenework (Phase 2)

Purpose: build the dramatic skills needed for later work: spontaneity, staying in role, accepting offers, and cooperating on a scene [source: Bailey].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Pairs improvise simple given circumstances (who, where, what). (2) Build to small-group scenes with a beginning, middle and end. (3) Practise freeze, rewind and replay. (4) Practise stepping in and out of role on cue; this rehearses de-roling.
"Magic if": Bailey cites Stanislavski's "magic if" (acting as if the circumstances were real) as a tool for entering dramatic reality [source: Bailey].
Example language (illustrative): "What would you do if you were a lighthouse keeper who hasn't seen anyone for a year?"
Watch for: members who need everything scripted (stay with structure) and members who flood the scene (give them a role with limits, such as narrator).

C3. Fictional role play mirroring members' issues (Phase 3)

Purpose: explore real issues safely through fiction, for example a generic family conflict or a fairy-tale crisis that mirrors members' difficulties [source: Bailey].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Choose a fiction based on themes the group has raised, without naming anyone. (2) Cast by choice and allow doubling. (3) Play the scene. (4) Replay it with changes suggested by the audience. (5) De-role. (6) Discuss first the characters, then, only if members want, links to their own lives.
Example language (illustrative): "The family in this story can't talk at dinner. Who wants to be at the table? Who wants to be the clock on the wall watching?"
Watch for: spontaneous self-disclosure is a readiness sign, not an instruction to move to Phase 4 (see the Phase 3 criteria in 2.2).

C4. Culminating enactments (Phase 4)

Purpose: direct work on personal material [source: Bailey].
Options listed by Bailey: performance; psychodrama; Theatre of the Oppressed forums; deeper role-method work; Developmental Transformations [source: Bailey]. Emunah's own Phase 4 methods (for example self-revelatory performance) are not described in the sources used [uncertain]. Psychodrama, Theatre of the Oppressed and Developmental Transformations each need their own training; follow their separate guides.
Steps for any personal enactment [synthesis]: (1) Check A1 contraindications again. (2) Get fresh consent from the protagonist and from anyone asked to take a role. (3) Agree a focus that the person can manage in the time; prefer a scene of coping or a wished-for scene over replaying the worst moment. (4) Keep the stop word live. (5) Hold the scene short and freeze often (A4). (6) Give the protagonist the last word and an empowered ending. (7) De-role fully (A5) and allow long sharing and closure (A6).
Example language (illustrative): "We won't replay the whole thing. Choose the moment you'd most like to change, or a moment when you got through."
Watch for: see Section 5 on overwhelm and retraumatisation.

C5. Dramatic ritual and series closure (Phase 5)

Purpose: close the group's work [source: Bailey].
Options [source: Bailey]: a shared public performance; a private group ritual; an evaluation session in which members review change and say goodbye.
Steps (private ritual) [synthesis]: (1) Each member brings or makes a symbol of what they gained. (2) Members revisit, briefly and in role or as themselves, a moment from the series. (3) Give and receive a parting wish. (4) Formally close the space.
Example language (illustrative): "Place your object in the circle and tell us what it stands for and what you're taking with you."
Watch for: public performance raises exposure and consent issues; decide on audience, anonymity and the right to withdraw beforehand [synthesis].

D1. Role, counter-role and guide enactment

Purpose: give voice to a role the client is stuck in and to its counter-role, then find a guide that can hold both, and carry what was found back into everyday life [concepts: Berger 2017 summarising Landy]. The step names and their order below are Landy's role method as listed by Kidders-Montoya (2018, pp. 22–23), citing Landy (1993, 2008, 2009) [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018]. Kidders-Montoya describes only steps 4, 5, 7 and 8 in any detail (pp. 29–31); no published per-step protocol by Landy was available, so the remaining how-to detail inside each step is the writer's [synthesis], and Landy's own instructions per step are [uncertain].
Steps (Landy's eight, as cited):
1. Invoking the role. Warm up and let a role emerge from the client's material: a feeling, a story, an image, a figure in an improvisation (for example the Victim, the Good Child, the Fighter). In Landy's published case of Michael, he asked the client to give an unfocused anger a focus, and a figure emerged from it [source: Jones 2016, summarising Landy 1993]. How to warm up is [synthesis].
2. Naming the role. The client gives the role a name. In the Michael case the names were the client's own (for example "Black Rage") [source: Jones 2016]. Finding the role's body, voice and object is [synthesis].
3. Playing out, or working through, the role. A scene, monologue or story in role, at a distance that suits the client (puppet, mask, figure or full embodiment) [step: Kidders-Montoya 2018; distance choices: synthesis]. In the Michael case this included story, recalling an earlier moment and role reversal [source: Jones 2016].
4. Exploring alternative qualities in subroles. The client tries the role on and explores a different quality of it; this can let them step out of the role, reject it, or keep it with a new meaning, including a more positive meaning for a stigmatised role [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018, p. 29]. Look also at what stands across from the role. This is where the counter-role comes in: a shadow, an underdeveloped quality or a corresponding role (such as child to mother); Berger notes the counter-role is corresponding, not simply opposite [source: Berger 2017]. Let role and counter-role speak to each other, with role reversal if helpful, then invite a guide figure (a wise character from story, an animal, an imagined future self) who can see both sides [synthesis built on Berger 2017; placing role, counter-role and guide in this step is the writer's reading, not stated in the sources used].
5. Reflecting on the role play. Out of role (de-role first, A5), talk about the qualities, functions and styles the client found in each role, starting with the fiction rather than with the client's life [step: Kidders-Montoya 2018; order of reflection: synthesis]. Enactment is normally followed by this processing; Landy argues that pairing the two engages both nonverbal and verbal processing [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018, pp. 30–31, citing Landy].
6. Relating the fictional role to everyday life. If the client chooses, ask where these roles show up at home, at work or in relationships, and what the guide would advise there [step: Kidders-Montoya 2018; prompts: synthesis].
7. Integrating roles into a functional role system. Help the client find a way to keep role and counter-role in balance so that neither takes over, and look at which existing roles already work well while the newly explored ones are added [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018, p. 29]. Landy wrote of Michael trying to balance his roles so that no single one took too much power in his role system [source: Jones 2016, quoting Landy 1993, p. 76].
8. Social modelling. Look at how the client's behaviour in a role affects others around them in settings such as home, school, peers and community [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018, pp. 23, 29]. In a group, other members can say how the new role landed with them [synthesis].
Pacing: the steps need not all fit one session; a role may be invoked and played over several sessions before it is related to everyday life [synthesis]. Always de-role every figure before reflection (A5).
Example language (illustrative): "Give that anger a shape. … What is its name?" / "The Brave One has spoken. Who is on the other side of Brave? … Now, who could stand between them and understand both?" / "Step out of the role and shake it off. What did you notice about the Brave One?"
Watch for: a client who cannot find any guide; first build guide qualities in fiction (helpers in fairy tales) before returning [synthesis]. A client who moves to everyday life too fast, before the fiction is played through, may lose the protection of distance; slow down and stay in the story [synthesis]. Signs it is working: the client names new qualities in a role, tolerates the counter-role without collapsing into it, and can say how a guide would act in a real situation [synthesis].

D2. Role Profiles and role taxonomy

Purpose: map which roles a client has, lacks, wants or feels blocked by, as a starting point for role work and as a before-and-after comparison. Landy's Taxonomy of Roles spans cognitive, affective, social, spiritual and aesthetic domains [source: Guilford contents page]. Landy built it from a review of more than 600 plays; Kidders-Montoya reports 157 role types and subroles (Landy & Butler 2012) [source: Kidders-Montoya 2018], while Kanter reports that the 1993 taxonomy began with 84 roles [source: Kanter 2023]. The two counts are reported here as each source gives them [uncertain].
Role Profiles, as described by Kanter (2023) and Kidders-Montoya (2018): a card sort. Each card names a role from the taxonomy, and the client sorts the cards into categories by how they relate to each role. Landy began developing it in the 1990s with NYU drama therapy students, and it was published as Landy, Luck, Conner and McMullian (2003) in The Arts in Psychotherapy (pp. 151–161) [source: Kanter 2023]. Two forms of the categories are reported [source: Kanter 2023, citing Landy & Butler 2012; Kidders-Montoya 2018, citing Landy 2001]:
- Earlier form: who I am; who I am not; I am not sure if I am this; who I want to be.
- Later form, built on role, counter-role and guide: who I am; who I want to be; who is standing in my way; who can help me.
Steps (as used in a published thesis application): give the client the cards plus some blank cards for roles they want to add; ask them to sort; talk through the sort (which roles are crowded, which are missing, who stands in the way, who could help); repeat the sort later to see which roles were gained or lost. Kanter used a curated set of about 25–27 cards with blanks in a six-session survivor group and compared roles gained and lost between administrations [source: Kanter 2023]. The full card set, instructions and any scoring system belong to the published instrument and are not described in the available sources [uncertain]; do not improvise a "Role Profiles" administration and report it as the instrument.
Example language (illustrative): "Put each card where it fits for you today: this is who I am, who I want to be, who is standing in my way, or who can help me. Use a blank card for any role that is missing."
Tell-A-Story: Landy's story-based assessment. Its procedure and scoring are not described in any source available here [uncertain]. Use only after training and from Landy's published description.
Validity and limits: Kanter notes that research on Role Profiles as a clinical assessment is largely limited to Landy and his collaborators [source: Kanter 2023]. No reliability or validity figures appear in the available sources, so treat results as hypotheses to explore with the client, not as validated measures. Neither a role sort nor a story shows whether abuse happened, and neither establishes a diagnosis [synthesis]. Use them only after training in the instrument (NADTA/RDT training, A1 and Section 1) [synthesis].
Watch for: a client who sorts most cards into "who I am not" or "who is standing in my way" may be flat or overwhelmed; slow down and work at a distance with one role at a time [synthesis].

E1. Storytelling and story enactment

Purpose: storytelling and enactment are core drama therapy processes [source: NADTA Scope of Practice]; stories give distance (Bailey's fairy tale example; Jennings's enacting favourite stories).
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Tell or co-create a story. (2) Members choose characters, including objects or places. (3) Enact it. (4) Replay it with a changed ending chosen by the group or the client. (5) De-role and share.
Example language (illustrative): "If you could change one thing in this story, what would it be? Let's play it that way."

E2. Behavioural rehearsal

Purpose: rehearse wanted behaviour and practise relating to others [source: NADTA Scope of Practice].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Choose a real upcoming situation. (2) Set the scene briefly. (3) The client plays themselves; someone plays the other person. (4) Replay with feedback and coaching. (5) Optional role reversal to feel the other side. (6) De-role and plan the real attempt.
Example language (illustrative): "Try saying it once the way you usually would, then once the way you'd like to."
Watch for: the other actor playing harder than needed; brief them to play at the level the client can handle.

E3. Sociodrama (Phase 3)

Purpose: explore a shared social theme through group roles rather than one person's story [listed by Bailey as a Phase 3 technique]. Sociodrama has its own training and literature; procedure not covered here [uncertain].

5. Handling problems

Sources give only general principles here (distance regulation, de-roling, closure, phase pacing); most specific responses are [synthesis].

Overwhelm during enactment (flooding, panic, dissociation)

Signs: fast or held breathing, fixed stare, sudden flatness, losing awareness of the room, speaking as if the past is now, or actors going beyond the script.
Responses, in order [synthesis]: (1) Freeze the scene. (2) Speak to the person by name in a calm, normal voice and orient them to the room, the date and the people. (3) Increase distance: step out of the stage area, turn the scene into narration or puppets, or hand it to the audience (A3) [distance principle from Bailey]. (4) Ground through the body: feet on the floor, holding a prop, breathing out longer than breathing in. (5) Do not continue the scene the same day unless the person is clearly back and asks to. (6) De-role every actor (A5). (7) Make sure another facilitator or co-therapist stays with the person if they leave the room. (8) Make a follow-up contact within 24 hours, with a risk review if needed.
Example language (illustrative): "Jo, it's me, we're in the group room and it's Tuesday. You're safe here. Feel the chair under you. The scene is stopped."

Retraumatisation risk and after-effects

Prevention [synthesis]: screening (A1); fiction first; no replay of the worst moment as a default; brief scenes; the protagonist controls the stop; nobody plays a member's real perpetrator without explicit consent from both sides; offer to have a chair or object stand for the perpetrator instead of a person.
After-effects to ask about at the next session [synthesis]: nightmares, intrusions, more self-harm urges, avoidance of the group, or conflict with the member who played a difficult role.
Response [synthesis]: go back up the distance ladder for the next sessions (return to Phase 2 or 3 work); review the person's risk assessment; arrange individual sessions or refer for trauma-focused treatment if symptoms persist; repair relationships between members (the actor of the difficult role is de-roled again and both say what they need).
Distance in trauma work is debated in the field [source: Kanter 2023 abstract notes this debate]. Jennings's view is that children often come closer through distance [source: Jennings 2010]. Default to more distance with trauma until the client shows they can regulate.

Stuck clients

Not playing at all: go down the EPR sequence to embodiment or projection, co-create alongside them (B8), or offer an audience role [source for EPR level matching: Jennings 2010; rest synthesis].
Too intellectual or performing flatly: reduce distance; ask the character to speak in the first person; slow down and add movement [source for principle: Bailey].
Stuck in one role across sessions: bring in the counter-role and a guide (D1) [concept: Berger 2017].

Resistance and refusal

Treat a pass as a valid choice. Offer a role with less exposure (sound-maker, director, audience member, timekeeper). Explore reluctance in role ("What does the Wall say about joining in?") [synthesis].
Embarrassment about "acting": begin with games that have no audience; avoid the words "perform" and "act" early on [synthesis].

Group problems

Scapegoating or someone cast repeatedly as the villain: cast by choice, rotate difficult roles, and de-role carefully after each scene [synthesis].
Members pushing for depth: hold to the phase plan; depth is not a group goal for every member [source for not all groups reaching all phases: Bailey].
Ruptures with the therapist: step out of the drama, acknowledge your part, and offer to explore the conflict in role if the client wants [synthesis].

Non-adherence and drop-out

Ask about the experience of the last session before anything else. A drop-out after a deep session suggests too much too soon; offer an individual review and the option to return at higher distance [synthesis].

Children and young people

Get parental or carer consent and the child's own assent. Explain safeguarding limits. Agree any touch in writing with parents [source for touch contract: Jennings 2010]. Work mainly through play and fiction [source: Bailey; Jennings 2010].
A disclosure made in play or role is handled under local safeguarding and mandatory-reporting procedures. Do not use play content or EPR observations as proof that abuse did or did not happen [synthesis].

Modality-specific difficulties

Role bleed (feelings or behaviour of a role continue after the session): repeat de-roling, give the actor a contrasting role next time, and check in between sessions [synthesis; de-roling methods from K-State 2014].
Group members confusing a fellow member with the role played: formal release (A5 step 4) and a positive exchange as themselves [synthesis].
Cultural limits on touch, gender mixing or particular stories: ask in screening and adapt; use props and distance [source: NADTA Scope of Practice on culture; rest synthesis].
Physical injury risk: warm-ups, soft props, a cleared space and no lifts [source for warm-ups: Bailey; rest synthesis].
Working beyond your training: if the work needs Phase 4 or psychodrama-level enactment and you are not an RDT or HCPC dramatherapist, refer or co-work [source: NADTA Scope of Practice; BADth].

Sources

Further sources:

Cited via those theses [uncertain]: Landy, R. J. (1993; 2008; 2009) for the role-method steps and role definitions (Kidders-Montoya 2018); Landy, R. J., Luck, B., Conner, E. & McMullian, S. (2003), Role Profiles, The Arts in Psychotherapy, pp. 151–161; Landy, R. J. & Butler, J. D. (2012), pp. 148–176, on Role Profiles categories and the role taxonomy (Kanter 2023; Kidders-Montoya 2018).

Books cited through secondary sources [uncertain]:

Emunah, R. (1994; 2nd ed. 2020). Acting for Real: Drama Therapy Process, Technique, and Performance. Cited via Bailey.
Landy, R. J. (1993). Persona and Performance: The Meaning of Role in Drama, Therapy, and Everyday Life. Guilford. Contents page linked above.
Jennings, S. (1998; 1999), books on assessment cited in Jennings 2010.

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